Culp Creek, Oregon

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Culp Creek, Oregon
Unincorporated community
USA Oregon location map.svg
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Culp Creek
Location within Lane county
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Culp Creek
Culp Creek (the United States)
Coordinates: 43°42′12″N122°50′51″W / 43.70333°N 122.84750°W / 43.70333; -122.84750
Country United States
State Oregon
County Lane
Elevation
[1]
961 ft (293 m)
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes
97434
Area code 541
GNIS feature ID1140531 [1]

Culp Creek is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States, southeast of Cottage Grove on the Row River. It lies on Row River Road between Dorena and Disston.

Contents

Geography

Culp Creek is located 961 feet (293 m) above sea level in the foothills of the Cascade Range. [1] The community is located where the Row River receives the stream that shares its name with the community. [2] Hawley Butte lies just north of Culp Creek and stands 2,992 feet (912 m) tall. [3]

History

Culp Creek is a tributary stream of the Row River, and was named for settler John Culp just before 1900. [4] A logging camp was established in the area and named Culp Creek Camp, so when a new post office was set up in 1925, it was named Culp Creek after the camp. [4]

The community's economy was long driven by the logging industry, including the Bohemia, Inc. sawmill that ran from 1959 until about 1990, just across the river. [5] [6] [7] Bohemia was headquartered in Culp Creek until it was bought by Willamette Industries in 1991. [8] [9] At one time, there were over 20 mills along the Row River. [10] The Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway (OP&E) line was built through Culp Creek in the early 1900s to ship ore, timber, supplies and passengers. [11] Today the former OP&E line has been converted into a rail trail that opened in 1997, [9] the Row River National Recreation Trail, which ends just past Culp Creek. [10] Culp Creek's only store closed shortly after the closure of the mill. [5]

In 1926, Buster Keaton filmed the climax of the silent film The General on the OP&E line near Culp Creek. [7] Keaton spent $40,000 to build a temporary trestle over the Row River. During the scene, the bridge was set on fire and collapsed just as a locomotive passed over it. The remains of the bridge and locomotive were left in the river for 15 years, until they were removed in 1941 for scrap metal. [12]

Culp Creek post office closed in 2009; [13] the community's mail is now addressed to Dorena. [14]

Education

The area is served by the South Lane School District, which includes the Childs Way Charter School located in Culp Creek. [15] Childs Way is a public charter school serving 35 students in grades six through twelve. Culp Creek Elementary School was consolidated with a school in Dorena in 1989 and closed, [16] with the buildings becoming home to the charter school in 1994. [17]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lane County, Oregon</span> County in Oregon, United States

Lane County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 382,971, making it the fourth-most populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Eugene, the state's second most populous city. It is named in honor of Joseph Lane, Oregon's first territorial governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cottage Grove, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Its population was 10,643 at the 2020 census. It is the third largest city in Lane County. It is on Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99, and the main Willamette Valley line of the CORP railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calapooya Mountains</span> Mountain range in Oregon, United States

The Calapooya Mountains are a mountain range in Lane and Douglas counties of southwestern Oregon in the United States. The range runs for approximately 60 miles (97 km) west from the Cascade Range between Eugene on the north and Roseburg on the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway</span> Abandoned U.S. short line railroad

The Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway is an Oregon-based short line railroad that began near Eugene as the Oregon and Southeastern Railroad (O&SE) in 1904. O&SE's line ran 18 miles (29 km) along the Row River between the towns of Cottage Grove and Disston. The Oregon, Pacific & Eastern Railway Company incorporated in 1912, purchased the physical assets of the O&SE two years later, and shortened their total trackage to operate 16.6 miles (26.7 km) from an interchange yard with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Cottage Grove, east to a 528' x 156' turnaround loop at Culp Creek. The last of this track was closed and scrapped in 1994, and ownership of its abandoned right of way property was later reverted to the state of Oregon to become one of the first-ever Government/Private Sector cooperative partnership Rails to Trails programs in the US, forming the Row River National Recreation Trail. A successor corporation now operates a communications company and a narrow-gauge line at Wildlife Safari.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorena, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

Dorena is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located southeast of Cottage Grove on the Row River, a tributary of the Coast Fork Willamette River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Row River</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Row River is a river, approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It rises in the Cascade Range and flows into the Coast Fork Willamette River near Cottage Grove. The stream was originally known as the "East Fork Coast Fork", but was later renamed after a dispute between neighbors and brothers-in-law George Clark and Joseph Southwell over "trespassing" livestock. Clark was killed as a result of the row. The name rhymes with "cow" rather than with "slow". A post office named Row River operated from 1911 to 1914 a little north of the present site of Dorena at 43.740123°N 122.880347°W.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walden, Oregon</span> Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Walden is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Cottage Grove, near the confluence of the Row River and Mosby Creek.

Disston is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States, southeast of Cottage Grove where Brice Creek and Layng Creek join to form the Row River. It is about a mile west of the Umpqua National Forest. Its post office opened in 1906 and ran until 1974. Cranston Jones—the first postmaster—was also one of the founders of the first sawmill in Disston and the name of the town came from the famous Disston saws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorena Reservoir</span> Reservoir in Oregon, United States

Dorena Reservoir is a reservoir on the Row River in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Cottage Grove.

The Cottage Grove Sentinel is a weekly newspaper serving the city of Cottage Grove, Oregon, United States. It was established in 1889 and is published on Wednesdays with a circulation of 2,829.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Row River National Recreation Trail</span>

Row River National Recreation Trail is a rails to trails conversion in the U.S. state of Oregon. It follows the Row River for 16.2 miles (26.1 km) between Cottage Grove and Culp Creek, passing by Dorena Lake, and provides access to many forest trails of Umpqua National Forest.

Culp Creek is a stream in Lane County, Oregon, in the United States. It was named for John Culp, a pioneer who settled near this stream. The creek flows northeast into the Row River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mosby Creek (Oregon)</span> River in Oregon, United States

Mosby Creek is a 21-mile (34 km) tributary of the Row River in Lane County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins at the confluence of the east and west forks of the creek near the Calapooia Divide and the border with Douglas County. From its source it flows generally north-northwest to meet the river slightly east of Cottage Grove and about 4 miles (6 km) from the larger stream's confluence with the Coast Fork Willamette River.

Sharps Creek is a tributary of the Row River in Lane County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins near Bohemia Mountain and the Calapooia Divide of the Cascade Range and flows generally northwest to meet the river. Much of its course lies within the Umpqua National Forest. Sharps Creek enters the Row River at the unincorporated community of Culp Creek, about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Cottage Grove.

Wildwood is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located between Culp Creek and Disston on the former line of the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway (OP&E), about 16 miles southeast of Cottage Grove.

The Bohemia mining district is an area of about 9 square miles (23 km2) in the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Oregon. Near Bohemia Mountain in Lane County, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Cottage Grove, the district was the most productive of the mining areas in the Western Cascades. Beginning in the 1860s, mines in the district extracted mainly gold and silver but also copper, zinc, and lead, then valued at a total of about $1 million.

Black Butte was an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It was located near Black Butte, a dark-colored mountain at the headwaters of the Coast Fork Willamette River, about 20 miles south of Cottage Grove, at the confluence of Garoutte Creek and the Little River. The Black Butte Mine, which operated from the 1890s to the 1960s, was one of the largest mercury mines in the state. Mercury contamination from abandoned mine tailings continues to be a health concern in the area, including mercury-contaminated runoff from Furnace Creek that has made its way to Cottage Grove Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cottage Grove Lake</span> Mesotrophic reservoir in Oregon, United States

Cottage Grove Lake is a reservoir on the Coast Fork Willamette River in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The lake is about 3 miles (4.8 km) long.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Culp Creek". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Culp Creek (stream)". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Hawley Butte". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  4. 1 2 McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 258. ISBN   0-87595-277-1.
  5. 1 2 McCowan, Karen (July 27, 2007). "Culp Creek post office gets canceled". The Register-Guard . Associated Press . Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  6. ↑ McKeever, David B.; Gary W. Meyer (1984). "The Softwood Plywood Industry in the United States, 1965-82" (PDF). Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  7. 1 2 "The Oregon, Pacific & Eastern Railway". Abandoned Railroads of the Pacific Northwest. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  8. ↑ Tallmadge, Alice (January 4, 2005). "'Stub' Stewart, timber baron, lawmaker, dies at 93". The Oregonian . p. B1.
  9. 1 2 Mosley, Joe (September 1, 1997). "Rail-to-Trail conversion beckons hikers, bikers". The Register-Guard . p. B2.
  10. 1 2 "Row River Trail: Culp Creek". City of Cottage Grove. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Row River Trail: Rails to Trails". City of Cottage Grove. Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  12. ↑ Baskas, Harriet (2007). Oregon Curiosities . Globe Pequot. pp.  149–150. ISBN   978-0-7627-4236-3 . Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Post Offices by State: OREGON Post Offices". United States Postal Service. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ "ZIP Code Lookup". United States Postal Service. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Zone Map". South Lane School District. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  16. ↑ Hartman, Janelle (June 27, 1989). "Principals reassigned". The Register-Guard . p. 6C. Retrieved September 22, 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  17. ↑ Mosley, Joe (March 29, 1999). "Small school seeks helpers". The Register-Guard . pp. 1C–2C. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
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